Lydia Faraoun

Lydia, an elegant self-confident lady, lived in Medawwar area facing the port of Beirut ever since she married her husband Issam Pharaon fifty years ago. She is a housewife and a mom of two achieved daughters with higher education degrees and compelling professional careers.

Lydia loves reading and music, and she is passionate about social work. Unfortunately, everything changed for her, and she can’t hear anything happening around her anymore; she relies on her eyes and observation to catch bits of conversations going on. On that fateful Tuesday afternoon, Lydia was not only robbed of her hearing, her family also lost their peace and happiness as she was always their compass.

On that horrible day, Lydia was lying in her bed, resting from her household chores, while her husband worked on his computer. They were alone at home when it all happened. They did not know a fire had erupted at the port of Beirut a few miles away. The fire soon turned into an explosion that threw Lydia off the bed; she hit a wall and fell to the ground, unconscious, as a glass panel fell all over her body. She was heavily bleeding when the wall collapsed on top of her, adding to the tragedy. Her husband Issam was also injured in the blast, but as he remained conscious, he was screaming while frantically searching for her under the rubble.

Many youths rushed to help; they went into homes searching and trying to rescue people and evacuating them to hospitals that would admit them. It is then that Lydia was found completely unconscious under the rubble, however, she was still breathing. She was rejected by multiple hospitals that have reached their full capacity, until she was admitted to Saint Joseph Hospital a while later.

In the operating room, Lydia was saved by divine intervention. Her heartbeat regulated and she was out of her critical condition pulling her back from the brink of her critical condition caused by severe bleeding and disrupted blood vessels. She spent over a month at the hospital, and when she was finally discharged, her body was overwhelmed with wounds, stitched with over one and a half thousand stitches. Lydia had also lost her hearing completely, despite all medical attempts to save her ears, which were severely hurt as a result of the explosion.

What happened on August 4 is a crime against humanity.
Who can bring back those people whose bodies shattered and were buried under the ground?
Who will save those bodies that were injured and destined to live with pain for the rest of their lives?
And most importantly, when will justice be served? Who will give all those victims their right to accountability and compensation?